This weekend, someone walked up to a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s vehicle and fired several shots point-blank into the officers sitting in their SUV.
I was reading the comments associated with the video posted on Twitter and saw more than one person one claiming that the shooting wasn’t without provocation because cops have been hunting black people for years. That the cops had it coming simply because they’re cops.
How can people believe that the officers deserved to be shot? How can they not abhor the action of the shooter? Because they’ve been trained to believe that all cops are bad, and that cops are hunting and killing young black men.
I’ve seen numerous people claim that since one cop is guilty, they’re all guilty. The reasoning applied is that all officers must have known that there was a bad cop. And, since they knew and didn’t say anything, then they’re all guilty.
Let’s apply that same logic to this situation.
One claim that the Black Lives Matter organization makes is that there is a disproportionate number of black men killed by police every year in the United States. That claim is false. Their claim that there is “state-sanctioned violence and anti-Black racism” is also not true. It’s not just me saying this. There are actual data and facts that will dispute their claim.
When high-profile celebrities such as LeBron James repeatedly say that police are “hunting” young black men, they are propagating a lie. So, when someone attempts to murder deputies sitting in their vehicle, those celebrities are equally as guilty because they knew they were spreading a lie. In fact, it would be easy to argue that they’re the ones that actually caused it to happen.
I can already hear some of you think “but maybe they didn’t know that it was a lie”. If you assume that’s possible, then you must also admit that it’s possible that not every police officer is aware of everything that goes on in their department. Therefore, not all police are guilty of a bad act committed by someone else.
But I’m not done. Anyone who has not disputed the claim of “state-sanctioned violence and anti-Black racism” is also guilty of shooting those officers. Anyone who blindly contributes to furthering a claim without bothering to verify its truthfulness is as guilty as if they pulled the trigger themselves.
So far in 2020, eight law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty during an ambush. If you don’t dispute the false claim that officers are hunting black men, if you willingly spread false information, then you are an accessory to their deaths.
We don’t know the motivations behind the shooters, but we should all be able to agree that they probably didn’t wake up one morning and spontaneously decide to set up an ambush. Something triggered their actions. And that something may have been you.
I guess it’s possible that you didn’t know that the claim made by the Black Lives Matter organization is false. Maybe you didn’t know that you’ve been spreading a lie. Well, you do now. I just told you. And now you have no excuse.
